YIR: Athletes Gather in Detroit for JCC Maccabi Games

In July, while dozens of world-class Jewish athletes were competing in the Paris Summer Olympics, hundreds of Jewish teens convened in Detroit for the JCC Maccabi Games, some of whom may be one-day Olympians themselves — perhaps even as early as the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

From July 28 to Aug. 2, Detroit, a city with a vibrant Jewish community, hosted the JCC Maccabi Games, otherwise known as the largest Jewish youth sporting event in the world, with over 1,200 athletes, between the ages of 12 and 16, competing in an array of team sports (boys baseball, boys and girls basketball, 3v3 boys basketball, boys and girls soccer, girls volleyball and ice hockey) and individual ones (boys and girls dance, golf, swimming, tennis, and table tennis). Across the country, JCCs in different regions have a specified number of athletes allotted to them for the Maccabi Games and they decide which teams they want to send.

“We are most proud of our community coming together to host the Games for the seventh time,” shared Sarah Allyn, chief operating officer of JCC of Metropolitan Detroit, when speaking to the Atlanta Jewish Times last week.

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The 2024 Maccabi Games also marked one of the most nationally and globally diverse displays of youth athletics in its history as there were 48 delegations on hand, spanning not only many regions of the United States but also countries such as Israel, Ukraine, Hungary, Mexico, and Canada. From a local perspective, Team Atlanta, whose delegation head consisted of James Harrison, Jack Vangrofsky, Todd Starr, Jessica Mencher, and Daniel Pomerantz, represented one of the largest contingents of athletes with nearly 100 local teens partaking in the events.